Network Server Monitoring

stlsmoore

I was wondering how big of a field this was, I recently received a contracting position doing strictly this. I'm going to doing primary proactive and reactive server monitoring for a big company but using different monitoring tools such as Insight Manager. There is no support or anything to speak of I just call the appropriate support groups and they take care of the issue. They did say I'll be using the ITIL protocols so I'm thinking maybe I should look into getting this cert. I've heard of network monitoring positions but they usually just involved routing and switching but not this type of position. I was wondering if there are many other jobs like this available?

laidbackfreak

ok so your gonna try to spot any problems or react to any alarms and then log a call with the relevant team...

so id say lots of helpdesk positions around yep... though maybe cutting back in current climate

ITIL is a model and as long as you understand how the model works is sufficient at this level, the intelligence comes higher up and is more a management role imo, if your interested in going that route then yep go for it...

stlsmoore

The position is def. higher up than just a tier I help desk role, in terms of both pay and the type of access I'll be granted with. This position really seems promising though I'm just not sure exactly what I'm going to be doing yet. I just never heard of a position strictly created for server monitoring.

nel

Sounds like a helpdesk job in a NOC. just sitting looking at nagios all day.

Seriously, it wont take you that far. make sure you make the right choice but honestly its not the kind of thing i would like to sit around for

sambuca69

stlsmoore wrote:

The position is def. higher up than just a tier I help desk role, in terms of both pay and the type of access I'll be granted with. This position really seems promising though I'm just not sure exactly what I'm going to be doing yet. I just never heard of a position strictly created for server monitoring.

Most of the bigger shops have this....

and yeah, it's almost like a help desk role... instead of users calling you with issues, your servers "call" you with issues. Not sure what your ultimate career goal is, but (where I work, at least) the folks that do this sit in a small room all day with the lights off, and stare at about 20 different monitors.... You don't touch anythig directly, just phone others to do the work.

stlsmoore

sambuca69 wrote:

stlsmoore wrote:

The position is def. higher up than just a tier I help desk role, in terms of both pay and the type of access I'll be granted with. This position really seems promising though I'm just not sure exactly what I'm going to be doing yet. I just never heard of a position strictly created for server monitoring.

Most of the bigger shops have this....

and yeah, it's almost like a help desk role... instead of users calling you with issues, your servers "call" you with issues. Not sure what your ultimate career goal is, but (where I work, at least) the folks that do this sit in a small room all day with the lights off, and stare at about 20 different monitors.... You don't touch anythig directly, just phone others to do the work.

yea that sounds like an accurate description of what I'm going to be doing lol. I'll stick it out for a while at least I have quite a bit of experience with network administration so it shouldn't be to hard to divert back to this type of role within a year or two.

msteinhilber

stlsmoore wrote:

yea that sounds like an accurate description of what I'm going to be doing lol. I'll stick it out for a while at least I have quite a bit of experience with network administration so it shouldn't be to hard to divert back to this type of role within a year or two.

Just something to think about... but if you already have had professional experience doing more hands on administration rather than this sort of role, then I would be a bit reluctant to accept an offer doing such unless I was in need of a job right away. Many employers look for a progressive upward movement in responsibilities, and if you are taking a step backwards and remain there for a year or two then you may end up hindering future opportunities to advance your career.

stlsmoore

Well from what I've seen and been told it's going to be pretty in-depth the different technologies I'll be using. The pay is phenomenal so it has me thinking there must be some reason to justify this. Besides I'm still pretty young (22) so I figure now would be a good time to experiment with different roles. Honestly I would like to move to the Cisco side of things and getting this experience along with my CCNA of course I think would help out a lot.

stlsmoore

Well I started my first day and it is a small NOC but there actually is quite a bit of server support we do also. Mainly remoting in to servers and starting/checking certain processes and services. Along with fixing some in house server systems. All in all everything is good so far!